Do you have to wait until your doctor tells you to start cereal ?

dd is almost 4 months, is it ok to try some cereal? I heard of people putting it in the bottle, but a magazien I read said "feed it" to your baby with a spoon, why put it in a bottle. I was just wondering the pros and cons of the bottle feeding of food.

T.I.A.

Re: Do you have to wait until your doctor tells you to start cereal ?

I started at 3 months and I did not wait for my dr. to tell me. I went with my motherly instinct:)

I don't think they recommend that you put it in the bottle. It is a shocking hazard.

Re: Do you have to wait until your doctor tells you to start cereal ?

Besides being a choking hazard in a bottle, putting cereal in a bottle can lead to overfeeding.

I would try it from a spoon if you want to try it at all. I started Ava at 3 months. It helped her reflux.

Re: Do you have to wait until your doctor tells you to start cereal ?

I waited for the Ped. to give the okay. There really isn't any reason to hurry it. Adding cereal to their diet doesn't help them sleep through the night, it's a developmental milestone that is around the same time lots of people start feeding cereal to their babies.

Re: Do you have to wait until your doctor tells you to start cereal ?

I fed Jared cereal at 1 month. I obviously didn't listen to the doctor.

Re: Do you have to wait until your doctor tells you to start cereal ?

I only put cereal in Christopher's bottle because of his reflux, but Matthew my PED recommended spoon fooding Matthew at 3 and a half months once a day, and now he is getting it in the morning and at night (because my MIL took it upon herself to feed him ) ..because he always was hungry.
I dont like putting it in the bottle if there is no reflux. Try a little at night and see how it goes

Message edited 1/12/2007 9:52:14 AM.

Re: Do you have to wait until your doctor tells you to start cereal ?

My ped is now recommending waiting until 6 months for Molly. Seems that is the new recommendation these days. I'll probably wait since I did start Jack early and saw no benefit to it.

Re: Do you have to wait until your doctor tells you to start cereal ?

I wait until 6 months for all my kids..
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends feeding your child only breast milk or formula for the first four to six months of life. After that, a combination of solid foods and breast milk or formula should be given until your baby is at least a year old. After babies reach six months, their nutritional needs call for more than what breast milk or formula can provide alone.

"What Age to Start
Be cautious of starting babies on solid food too soon. Starting solid foods too early can cause babies to develop food allergies. This is because their intestinal tract and immune system are not yet fully developed; introducing solid foods at this time can be too much for them to handle. Starting a baby on solid foods too soon, before four to six months, can also cause overfeeding, since they cannot yet offer you signals as to when they are full. There is also the danger that a baby won't be able to chew or swallow correctly before this age.

At four to six months, breast milk or formula is the only food that your baby needs, but you can still begin to familiarize your baby with the feel of a spoon and begin to introduce solid foods. Iron-fortified rice cereal is the least allergenic type of solid food and is recommended as the first that should be introduced. You can mix I tablespoon of rice cereal with breast milk, formula, or water and feed it to the baby with a spoon (not a bottle). Offer cereal two to three times per day."